Joe believes that radio and television have damaged cultural transmission at in Ireland. Nothing will ever convince the people there that their culture is superior to anything you can get on television. In Joe’s native area, even today, the people will turn off the television in order to listen to a song. But it’s there, and Joe says he’s seen the changes in many places. In Dublin, for instance, country-and-western music is very popular. There was more Irish spoken in Ireland 20 years ago than there is today.

People are better off now; they can get in their cars and go somewhere. But when people were confined in one place, they had their own culture, not something that was given to them. Joe says he’d rather be in America — and America built his confidence, talking about Irish culture in classes and festivals — than to try to do the same thing in Dublin.